Continuing the Mission

by LTC Jay Luckritz, USA, Retired & COL Jason Kirk, USA, Retired

Once a military service member transitions out of active service, their “commitment to the mission” does not have to end. Black & Veatch, a global engineering and construction company, knows the importance of hiring veterans and takes pride in supporting them as they apply their passion for service to our nation through Black & Veatch’s National Security infrastructure portfolio. Black & Veatch has leveraged DoD’s Hiring Our Heroes (HoH) program to support transitioning veterans and to identify great teamwork and mission focused potential hires across a range of disciplines and levels of expertise.

Black & Veatch is chock full of military veterans, including its own Federal Business president who oversees all their Federal programs, MG (Ret) Richard “Rick” Kaiser. Rick served 33 years of active Federal Service in the U.S. Army, including service as USACE Division Commander for both the Great Lakes/Ohio River Division and Mississippi Valley Division. He concluded his service as the Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As Deputy Commanding General of USACE, he was second in command of the USACE, with over 37,000 employees and an annual budget of $25 billion. He was also responsible for the Chief Operating Officer duties. Rick brought his valuable leadership skills to Black & Veatch and continues to mentor, serve and develop others in becoming excellent leaders in support of our nation. Rick shares his sentiment, “I am extremely proud of the work our BV Team does to support improvements to America’s national security infrastructure.”

Black & Veatch’s veterans continue the mission of planning, designing and program/project management support for a wide array of facilities infrastructure and services projects. Recent examples include planning, designing and construction phase services for the building of coastal and flood risk reduction projects for Harris County, Texas; capital improvements program management for the Village of Key Biscayne, Florida and the City of Charleston, South Carolina; and developing and deploying cybersecurity services for global national security client requirements.

For example, Black & Veatch’s Mission Critical Facilities & Resilience Solutions Integration Director, COL (Ret) Jason Kirk, a former commander of the USACE Jacksonville and Charleston Districts, has led program delivery of off-base civil works, on-base military facilities, and emergency response focused on utility restoration. Jason has five years of private-sector Architectural/ Engineering/Construction experience preceded by 26 years serving as a U.S. Army Engineer with combat and USACE units. In his final year, this included duty as Task Force Power Restoration commander in postHurricane Maria Puerto Rico. Now Jason focuses on Federal market strategic growth initiatives with a priority on sustainable and resilient infrastructure and innovative digital tools for lifecycle asset management.

Asked about the parallels between his early Sapper platoon leader days and his current work in the private sector, Jason said, “In both cases, I’m working with motivated folks I can trust to deliver important outcomes for our clients. Where my engineer platoon used to provide defensive works for maneuver commanders, at BV we’re designing critical flood risk management infrastructure for mayors and our USACE client.”

LTC (Ret) Jay Luckritz, PMP, brings a diverse background and experience to the team, with over 25 years’ experience in planning, engineering and construction of military facilities and civil works. He began his career as an Engineer Officer and served in various positions, including Director of Facilities & Construction U.S. Army Africa (Vicenza, Italy), and Deputy Commander of the USACE Galveston District.

As Deputy District Commander of the USACE Galveston District, Jay led USACE efforts to manage storm damage recovery efforts of Hurricane Harvey. After only a short month from first arrival at Galveston District, he helped lead the District to develop and implement a Hurricane Harvey response program that is still in place and being executed today. Additionally, Jay has also received multiple military awards for his work in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One of Jay’s Black & Veatch “battle buddies” in the project management business is Navy Seal Michael “Mike” Houda, who fills a similar role in support of the Village of Key Biscayne, FL. “Mike’s military experience shines through in the important work he is doing for our community,” said Village Manager COL (Ret) Steve Williamson, “His leadership and analytical skills are helping advance our comprehensive infrastructure program to tackle more frequent and severe storms, sea-level rise, and associated environmental changes. Mike’s steadfast emphasis on public service and teamwork is a clear reflection of the values learned while serving our nation.”

Black & Veatch also recognizes the value of hiring retired Army Engineer civilian employees. One of these former civil servants is Retired USACE SES Rich Hancock, PE, PMP, a Professional Civil Engineer with more than 39 years of project management, construction and engineering design experience, of which 33-plus years was with the USACE. He currently serves as Black & Veatch’s Key Account Manager for Federal Civil Works.

Rich served with distinction as a member of the Senior Executive Service for eight years. Career highlights include serving as Regional Business Director in the Mississippi Valley Division; Program Director in the Gulf Region Division; Regional Business Director and Regional Dam and Levee Safety Officer in the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division; and Chief of Military Programs Integration Division at HQUSACE. He received the Charles E. Christ Award for Outstanding Support to Medical Construction Projects by the DoD, Health Facilities Planning Agency; Global War on Terror Service Medal from the U.S. Army; Bronze DeFluery medal and Silver DeFluery medal by USACE; and Meritorious Civilian Service medal by the U.S. Army.

Hiring Our Heroes is key to continuing the mission in support of our federal government as well as across all market sectors. Senior Human Resources Manager Jason Rogers, a retired U.S. Marine, is focused on the recruitment of veterans at Black & Veatch. He knows recruiting firsthand, having served as an Assistant Regional Director of Sales and Training himself, responsible for developing and executing curriculum in support of more than 80 recruiters and recruiter managers dispersed over Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi for the U.S. Marine Corps for about 12 years.

Today Jason continues the mission of bringing together talented military veterans to the company to support its clients with critical infrastructure challenges. Jason said, “The HoH Fellowship Program has proven to be a fantastic opportunity for us to deliver high-quality military professionals to our internal stakeholders who may not be familiar with the skills and experience that veterans can offer to Black & Veatch. Thus far, every fellow we have brought on has contributed to our business and demonstrated that they not only deserve to be here, but they can also help elevate us to the next level. I am encouraged to see how the news of their success is spreading throughout the company, leading to increasing numbers of hiring leaders expressing interest in the program and inquiring how they can participate. This program could easily evolve into a significant talent pipeline for us in the years ahead.”

Three recent HoH participants are Mr. Charlie Speer, Jonathan Darrow and Chris Demery. Charlie is a skill bridge/HoH participant from last year that has joined Black & Veatch’s mechanical group. He is a member of the TVA Kingston power plant design team, which is a new facility featuring 1.5-GW of power generation, including a combined cycle gas turbine plant and 16 aero-derivative turbines. Jonathan, a Civil Engineer, finished his time of service as a 1LT at Fort Cavazos prior to his HoH fellowship with Black & Veatch. Chris, a HoH Cohort 24-2 fellow, recently joined Black & Veatch’s Federal Integrated Solutions team as a Cybersecurity Program Manager. He brings a wealth of cybersecurity expertise from his extensive experience working at critical government agencies like the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the White House Communications Agency (WHCA). During his 20-year military career, Chris led and directed the safeguarding of critical infrastructure and national security information; positioning him to be a linchpin in future Black & Veatch cybersecurity efforts.

Black & Veatch also offers support to veterans through its Military Employee Resource Group Engagement (MERGE). MERGE supports Black & Veatch’s military professionals, veterans and their families and works to expand their involvement and participation within the local military and veteran community. Black & Veatch proudly supports and hires military veterans from across the U.S. Armed Forces to assist our federal government. No one knows better than our military veterans that the mission must carry on, and let’s face it – our nation is much better for it. “MERGE is more than a resource group,” stated Ms. Julie Eiter, CoFounder of MERGE. “It’s a place that our active-duty service members, veterans, their families and friends can find camaraderie within the organization. It’s a place where members give and receive support to those going through challenges unique to military members, and it’s also a place filled with leaders ready and willing to give back to the larger veteran community.”

This article first appeared in Army Engineer Magazine, Fall 2024